Monthly Archives: October 2015

Loving thoughts… Social Studies teacher Todd Claunch honors the late Birds with the students of Forrest M. Bird Charter School. Photo-by Mr. Webber

This year we lost both Dr. Forrest Bird and Dr. Pamela Bird, two amazing people who contributed greatly to our community. They supported the idea of the “Invention Convention,” a program that allowed kids from around the community to invent new ideas and contraptions with the great inventor, Dr. Forrest Bird. Forrest and Pamela Bird were both “excited to see kids, young inventors, trying new things and expanding their horizons,” according to Mary Jenson. Forrest would give advice to kids as they invented, allowing them to expand their inventing skills. He especially liked interacting with these young inventors, asking them why they did things to their inventions, probing them to think more about their inventions.

Dr. Forrest Bird invented the “Babybird” respirator, a respirator made for infants. He based this invention on a respirator he invented for fighter pilots, so that they could go higher into the atmosphere and still breathe. Because of the hundreds of thousands of lives he saved with the different sizes of respirators he invented and the kind of person he was, our school wanted to be named after him. When asked the first time, Bird declined the offer. The second time, a year later, he responded “I thought they only named schools after dead people!” according to Jenson. Eventually, he said yes, even though he still thought it was weird that we were naming our school after him while he was still alive.

He has been described as “a youth in an old man’s body.” Even when he was wheel-chair bound, ideas seemed to dance behind his eyes as he thought of new ways to look at things. When asked by the Sandpoint Magazine editor Billie Jean Plaster if he thought he was eccentric, he stated,

“Eccentricity. Well, I guess the definition of course is “out of the usual” or something by Webster. But no, I don’t think I’m really that. I have my own way of doing things, and I like my privacy. I like to remain alone. And I like certain friends. Certain people annoy me, others don’t. Same way with music, all the way through. I’m not anti-social, but I’m not a nightclubber either on that basis. And I think I’ve had the same friends just about all my life. As far as eccentricity goes, I think anybody that doesn’t probably conform to everything, every day might be called a little bit eccentric.”

Forrest M. Bird was a thinker, and he had a great heart.

Where Forrest was a great thinker, Pamela was the heart. She was dynamic, founding many foundations including Innovative Product Technologies Incorporated, Bird Aviation Museum and Invention Center, and was the president of the Inventors Association of Idaho. She had a strong personality, taking an air of authority wherever she went. Yet she was also approachable, as Jenson describes. “For me, she also offered things to me like ‘Hey Mary, call me when you want some advice,’ and ‘if you need some help on something, just let me know.’ She was always very open, and that was awesome.”

Walk of Memories… Students given an opportunity to pay their respects for Dr. Pamela Bird in a silent, reflective school march in honor of the late Birds and surviving family members. Photo-by Mr. Webber

Some people think that the Birds were giving money to the school, which is false. What they did do was the area around the flag, and the school sign in front of the High School. He was a great patriot, and believed in America and how fortunate we are to live here. He served our country in several wars, and wanted to make sure that we remembered to honor our country. They came to speak at graduations and gave a scholarship every year, but that was everything that they did monetarily for this school. According to Jenson, naming the school after Forrest Bird was about honoring these two amazing people, not about the money.

Something out of science fiction… CERN’s Hadron Collider is fully operations and making new discoveries. Photo-by cerncourier.com

Now I’m guessing you, the reader is wondering, “What is CERN?” Let me tell you, CERN is a European research organization that operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world! CERN has devoted the last 60 years to the research of probing the fundamental structure of the universe. Although most have a pretty good idea of what they are doing there is still an element of the unknown. Now CERN is restarting the world’s most powerful particle accelerator and have been creating some chatter around the public with some claims that may interest you.

It is not confirmed but there was some talk about how CERN was opening the gateway to a new dimension. The possibility of this occurring seems highly likely but when you put more thought into it how much about dimensional travel do you know? Chances are it’s slim to none so how can you possible sweep aside the possibility of dimensional travel?! I would rather not go into the numerous claims and theories about CERN’s covert operation mostly because there is just too much to handle. But I will go into one theory that interested me on a whole new level.

Recently a video was released called “Symmetry” or more widely known as “the dance of destruction.” The filming of the video (or trailer) took place inside CERN. This wasn’t any ordinary creepy, vague video; this video is on a whole new level of creepy and vague. So bizarre I’m linking it below! But be warned, you may just get sucked into all of this CERN madness, I know I did.

This video is a bit unsettling and extremely confusing. There is one thing we can probably all agree on, this isn’t just the trailer for a musical/opera/ballet/whatever it is. There must be some deeper meaning to this video! We have gone over one theory, exploration of a new dimension. What if I told you that people actually believe that CERN’s dance of destruction video is a sneak peek at the future, a future of death and destruction? You heard me; many people have been theorizing that CERN is not opening a new dimension but the gates of Hell.

How much evidence do they have exactly backing up their theory? Slim to none if I’m answering honestly. But at least think about this absurd as it may be. Shiva is the goddess of destruction; this Hindi goddess has been told in legend to destroy entire worlds at the flick of the wrist. Shiva also happens to be CERN’s mascot. Somehow many have been theorizing that CERN could destroy our reality or possibly our perception of it.

Theories and speculations continue to fly about the topic of CERN, when will it stop? Only when CERN gives us peace, peace by releasing the true meaning behind Symmetry, only then will the theories stop.

Why Pong? Why not! For the last couple of trimesters at the Forrest Bird Charter School there have been several rugged tables of entertainment. These have been a Table Tennis or “Ping Pong” and a Foosball table. Many people have been enjoying these benefits and

Masterful Make-Up… The Foosball table features the latest in ugly faces.

keep playing day after day.

Recently, the Charter schools PTECH program has moved out the building and left an empty area. This has now been filled with the new Rec Room! The tables are now sitting comfortably along with a few other activities for everyone’s enjoyment. This has been a big boost for morale. Even the students have declared competitions among themselves.

For the Foosball table there has been the self-proclaimed “Top Three.” These are the local students Becky Brennaman, Coleman Vaughn, and Orion Syth. Why they only chose three has been a mystery to everyone seeing as there are four slots on a foosball table. But these are not necessarily the only great players. Many other people play during the mornings, at lunch, and after school. These players have nearly the same amount of skill but don’t care about the title of the top three.

While there has been no mention of the best among the ping pong table, there is still a definite knowledge of who knows the game. Ryan Zimmerle is seen around the Ping Pong table quite a bit with Damian Fitzpatrick, Carson Newton, and several other players.

How did we get these tables and these privileges? Teacher Chris Goodwin brought in the foosball table last year and is glad to see its getting some use. This year when students came into the school they were surprised by the new Ping Pong table. This was brought in as a present for the High Schools administrator Mary Jensen. She was in a generous mood and decided to give it to the students of the charter school.

Now we get to the Rec Room. For several years student council has been pushing for a room dedicated to the students. One teacher has been pushing rather for the teacher’s area to be moved out of the uncommon and into a better location for events. This was changed when they realized they were the only one and decided to allow the area for the students. The battle is now over… The students won when the teachers got sick of the loud noises and distractions that the tables caused in the middle of the school and were looking for an area to remove that. This was perfect when PTECH moved to Mountain West Bank.

Welcome to the Yard… after a long battle students now have their own Rec room.

This area is a little blocked off and the teachers are running a prolonged experiment to see if the students are trustworthy enough to have their own Rec Room. Only time will tell if the room will stay; for all the students out there… Don’t mess this up big time.

You can help keep the Rec Room alive and well by following the times that are allowed. These are before school 7:30-8:00, during lunch 11:35, after school: 3:10-3:30, and any other non-regular allowed times. (ie. Game Club, extended lunches, ect.) Also please respect the equipment and the times allowed to be in there or it will ruin the fun for everyone else.

Everyone is talking about the end of the world: CERN, climate change, the blood moon, etc.; however, no one is talking about Third Trimester at FBCHS. Who would be talking about Third Trimester anyway? Christmas break is still 32 school days away!

Magnificent Art… Innovation at work. Photo-by Miranda Paddack

After collaborating with the High School staff, Mary Jenson has put project-based learning in motion for third-trimester, “We want to make third-trimester fun,” stated Mary. No midterm or final just one project, with a catch nonetheless. Innovation, this theme has been the idea since the baby stages. This theme was originated to honor our schools namesake, Dr. Bird. The recent death of Mr. and Mrs. Bird makes this a wonderful tribute to their lives.

What is project-based learning? Project based learning is a type of teaching method in which students spend an extended period researching one topic. The focus of our final trimester will be innovation; the project we decide to create will be worked on in nearly all classes, the classes also be focused on this topic. For example, the history class could be about the history of innovation and science classes about innovating something. Group or single, you can pick your “team” in study lab. The project will count for a part of all your grades, completion of this project is your key to passing.

Forrest M. Bird Charter… Can we live up to our name? Photo-by Miranda Paddack

The students and staff are being challenged third-trimester to innovate the world in which we live. To look at the problems of this world and to solve them with real life answers in our projects. This could be the most innovative form of education our world has ever seen.

Rising from the flames, the Bird Eye News is finally back in business! Our school’s newspaper is something that has been known to ‘die’ it gets dropped from the classes offered because of the enrollment being too low and Mr. Webber’s need to offer more history electives. But now it’s taking a different turn. The end result is for the class to hopefully manage itself like a club. Being able to run the website, handle updates, and keeping up with all the news. Will we be able to handle it? That’s what this trimester will decide.

The Bird Eye News is the high school newspaper that was started in 2013 by Mark Webber and the journalism class at the time. This actually wasn’t the first time he had started a school paper. In 2011 there was a high school and middle school paper that didn’t do too well. It was far more expensive due to the fact that they printed out a physical paper. So in order to make it better, they changed it from the expensive paper publications to be strictly an online newspaper. Good choice. Thus, the birth of the Bird Eye News. This was created because Mr. Webber wanted the students of FBCHS to have a voice to report the news by keeping others informed about events happening around the student body and the community of Sandpoint.

Hard at work… Orion Syth is hard at work trying to make our website interesting and new. Photo-by Colleen Kindred

However, the Bird Eye News hasn’t always gone smoothly. No, in fact it’s met many bumps in the road. The high school paper went dormant as well which showed that it may not have been successful. However that’s not the case. Mr. Webber soon explained in the interview why the paper went dormant once again. “The Bird Eyes News died, or should I say went dormant, because of a need for me as a teacher to offer more history electives to meet the eight history credit requirements the school has for graduation. I am hoping that this year I could continue with the great staff I have into another trimester. If that doesn’t happen, I am hoping the staff will keep the online news site alive as a club”

Being required to teach core classes resulted in the paper becoming dormant a couple times before it was brought back this year. Having a main goal in mind, Mr. Webber and his class are striving to maintain the journalism class and keep the news alive. However, there are still some concerns that Mr. Webber holds for the future of this class. “My main concerns when starting the paper again was would I find motivated students who would see the freedom of the press as an important right to exercise and really commit to the class and the continual need to publish new stories.” The future of the paper will hopefully turn into a club if the class’ enrollment doesn’t increase.

The future of the Bird Eye News rests on the shoulders of the student body. Will we be able to keep it running for as long as we can? Will it become dormant once this trimester ends? Well, that’s the hard part about this class. Nobody knows, but if we try our hardest to keep the journalism class active and the Bird Eye News going, then maybe we can discover new and interesting things. So, in your spare time, why not read some of our articles. Perhaps after reading one, you might consider joining journalism as well.

This year Annika Hinds and Alison White are bringing back the school yearbook.

Yearbook is an art and a science… Alison White works on her physics project in science class, but during her personal time, she and her friend Annika Hinds are creating the school’s yearbook. Photo-by Lauren Stidham

They want to bring it back because they miss being able to sit down with friends and look back at the highlights of the school year. Students would have no way to take memories into their hands and reflect upon them after the year is over. The school has no other records of the year’s highlights outside of the yearbook. The yearbook is also important to them because it will help grow their artistic skills.

White and Hinds are setting up a yearbook committee. They want two or three students that are willing to help them make this happen. They are recruiting people via email applications and are accepting applications September 29th through October 2nd. This new committee will be put to work designing the book, taking pictures, marketing, and writing summaries on events.

But it isn’t just Hinds and White that are bringing the yearbook back to life! They will need us students to take part in the “most likely to…” vote. “We need communication from students to make this happen.” White says when asked what the challenges of making the yearbook will be. The reason why yearbooks have died in the past is because lack of effective marketing and student response. The way we can help keep it alive as a student body this year is by actually purchasing it. A yearbook can be beautifully designed and filled with great memories, but still die because nobody buys it. “In past years, the yearbook has failed due to lack of motivation from the students.” Hinds explains.

So, will the yearbook come back to life? It sounds like that is really up to you and I.

Who is this mysterious cat? Is he just another stray or a cat with a story to tell?

Yearning for some Purring… Rusty the Cat is seen in the High School being petted. Photo-by Alistair King

Rusty the cat was seen walking into both of the Forrest Bird Charter schools. Often distracting whatever class he happens to wander into. While this has mainly been over in the Middle School gym who keeps their door open, he has also evaded the difficult security of the loose high school window screens.

But where did this overt friendly cat come from? An interview with the cat’s owner’s granddaughter, a student at Forrest Bird Charter Middle School, sheds some light on this subject. Sunshine Osborne says that Rusty is seven years old and that her grandparents got him from “some lady” quite a few years ago.

According to Ms. Osborne Rusty is “very annoying” and really just wants attention. This desire for attention is quite obvious, and it is encouraged by the students at both the High School and Middle School. One student Emily Invernon said “I pretended that I needed to use the bathroom so I could pet the kitty.” This is definitely a distraction but a good one at that.

Many complaints and petitions have come out from among the student body wanting to allow Rusty to be free to walk around the school as he sees fit, but the idea has been disregarded due to the students allergic to cats. A few students have even gone as far to research the laws about cats in school to attempt to find a loophole. An Idea from Michael Bigley would be an area where students can go when they need a break to pet the cat when he is in this specific area free from the rest of the school. That is of course if he decides to show up.

What are his regular activities? This reporter followed and talked with Rusty for near to an hour. At first, Rusty was cautious about having someone come up to him and start taking pictures but was soon excited by the prospect of meeting a new person. “I always missed it when people wouldn’t take the time to have a nice conversation,” Rusty stated, “It can really brighten my day.” He really just wanders around the schools now that he has a relative in the school so close. “The petting isn’t all that bad either.”

Fun in the Sun… Rusty relaxes after hunting a pest in the underbrush. Photo-by Alistair King

His regular activities consist of wandering around the Middle School once it opens up, attempting to get into the elusive High School. He also clears the school grounds of any rodents or pests that happen to be there. After his morning activities are done he will go and pester the retirement home’s dogs and then head back in to the neighborhood to get his well deserved rest.

Could this great cat be our new informal mascot? It’s honestly up to the student council to decide whether they want to believe that or not. While the administrative might not be so inclined the students can still believe and accept it.

Laughter is the best medicine… Pope Francis and President Obama share a joke. Photo found at www.mirror.co.uk

Pope Francis’ first visit to the United States was a historical and noteworthy one. The Pope first met with President Barrack Obama on September 23, 2015 and made a speech at the White House addressing the press. The following day Pope Francis was scheduled to address a joint session of United States Congress with the Supreme Court in attendance. This was a first for the Vatican to address the United States in this fashion.

Weeks before cities began their safety planning for the arrival of Pope Francis by rerouting entire freeway systems to escort him quickly and conveniently to each speaking engagement. Preferential treatment of this magnitude has not been seen for any person before in our country’s history. Surprisingly, not once was the mention of separation of church and state broadcasted as each municipality, county, state, and even our national government bowed its will in servitude to Pope Francis’ visit.

Addressing the Nation… A historical even in the making as Pope Francis addresses Congress and the Supreme Court. Photo found at post-gazette.com

During Pope Francis’ address to Congress, members of both Houses applauded and gave several standing ovations as he spoke words of peace and encouragement. He addressed topics covering a wide range; from the importance of family, taking in refugees fleeing ISIS, religious entities joining together to combat radicalism within their ranks, solving the abortion issue in America by helping solve the cause verses preventing the choice, use of technology to improve lives, encourage the need to solve climate change, and to continue to help the homeless.

The historical significance for the United States on this occasion was immense. This was the first time the Pope and Vatican had directly addressed our national government in this manner. This is the first time the United States has officially acknowledged the Pope as an authority in spiritual as well as a political influence throughout the world.

What did the United States learn from the Pope’s visit? Pope Francis demonstrated his kindness and compassion to all he came into contact with. Instead of receiving an expensive luncheon provided by Congress on the taxpayer’s dime in his honor, he chose to visit a homeless shelter. He kissed babies, shook the hands of the homeless and those assisting them. He visited New York and the epicenter of 9/11 now fourteen years passed. His words of encouragement touched many lives and brought hope to many weary people in our nation.

Live justly, love mercy, and walk humbly… Pope Francis demonstrates many biblical traits to those around him. Photo-by globalsistersreport.org

As time elapses after Pope Francis’ visit, it is up to Americans to not lose hope in their country. People need to continue to seek and practice justice at every decision, and yet remain merciful in how justice is upheld. Pope Francis reminds us of this, but it is up to Americans to put it into practice. No law or legal system can bring out a desire to help others that must come from within each individual.

Earth our beautiful home… What are the chances a extinction event could take place? Scientist speculate the Earth has had 6 already thus far. Photo-by NASA

Chances are you have noticed a number of doomsday predictions on the internet for 2015 on the internet. Specifically, a number of websites have been claiming that an asteroid will hit the Earth sometime in the past month. If you have not heard, simply Google “September 2015 Asteroid” and you will get pages and pages of results ether perpetuating or disproving the theory. There are theories that FEMA is stocking up on body bags on the eastern seaboard. Some believe that there is even a massive cover up on the part of NASA itself to convince the general population that they are in no danger when in fact; they will be destroyed by an asteroid. (It is difficult to insert a link here because I don’t trust these websites not to give me a virus. You can if you want. Just Google September 2015 asteroid NASA cover up.)

According to theorist, NASA is vehemently denying the truth to keep the world in the dark about their impending doom for the purposes of… world domination? There are mountains of sketchy evidence against NASA, including leaked photo shopped documents, anonymous tips, and good old creepy websites, complete with news that planets lightyears away are actually changing our day to day weather.

The rumor became so widespread that NASA, along with several news organizations such as Fox 8 and CNN have released press statements specifically addressing the rumor. According to NASA’s own statement, “There is no scientific basis — not one shred of evidence — that an asteroid or any other celestial object will impact Earth…”. That was from Paul Chodas, Manager of the Near Earth Object office at the Jet Population Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

The moral of the story here is DON’T BELIVE EVERYTHING YOU READ ON THE INTERNET. Before you repost or share something, check with a reputable source on the subject. NASA is excellent for doomsday predictions, astronomical news, and anything to do with space. CNN, Fox News, anything that ends in “.gov”, university websites, research institutes, there are plenty of reliable news and information sources. You could disagree with everything the organizations I listed above stand for, but it doesn’t change the fact that they are more infinitely reliable than that blog you saw one time that was run by a single individual claiming the arrival of our alien overlord, or that website that was saying that the world was actually going to end September 23 using only crazy theories to back it up. People have believed end of the world predictions from the same websites for years, and they have been wrong every time, as evident for the fact that we’re still alive and kicking. Because the fact is, if the world is going to end, I can guarantee you we won’t hear about it first from “messianicmessiah.blogspot.com”.

The End is Near!… Could everything be ended by a massive polar shift? Photo by timeanddate.com

There are many theories on when the world will end, and nearly all of them describe the cataclysmic circumstances that cause it. Some theories are based on the destructive nature of man, such as a nuclear war or global warming. These theories are preventable, as it is possible to destroy nuclear weapons before they detonate or reduce our carbon footprint. But what can we do when the very core of our earth is going to change patterns?

The polar shift theory describes an event just like that. Imagine all migratory animals going North during fall instead of South, GPS satellites not knowing where they are, and navigation systems all pointing the wrong way. These are just some of the things that could happen if the polarity of our North and South poles switched, and some think that this could happen soon.

But NASA has thoroughly debunked this theory in an article they wrote[1], explaining that in the last pole shift “no drastic changes in plant life or animal life” occurred. So, if we trust NASA with this (which I do), we shouldn’t worry about global chaos caused by the shifting poles. But what about the lights in the sky? And I’m not talking about aliens…

What are those strange lights?… The aurora borealis makes its grand appearance in Sandpoint, Idaho several times this year. This is a picture of Priest Lake and the Northern Lights. Photo By Craig Goodwin

The aurora borealis, or the northern lights, is caused by space weather (solar radiation) and our magnetic field colliding. This is actually indirectly associated with the polar shift, as the gradual moving of these poles makes the magnetic fields vary in strength. These beautiful sights can actually be seen by us here in Sandpoint. Amelia Goldworm describes these lights as “whiteish with a tint of brown” and “cloud like.”